The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently released their outlook on housing and found the housing market is turning around in Wisconsin and the nation. According to NAHB’s Chief Economist Dr. David Crowe, “The temporary ‘softness’ in housing starts early this year was a ‘momentary pause,’ and momentum will pick back up for the rest of the year.” The pause was due to the federal budget sequester, along with labor and material shortages. Housing, according to Crowe, drives the nation’s economic recovery. There will be an increase in housing in Wisconsin, and in the nation. Wisconsin and the nation are entering a period where there will be more houses being built. “The MBA has received many inquiries from consumers looking for a builder to build their dream
home,” said Kris Hillmer, MBA executive director. “People interested in building can tour brand new homes during the MBA Parade of Homes this August and September. For those who can’t wait and want to build a home now, visit the MBA’s web site at MBAonline.org, to find quality custom home builders.”

According to the NAHB report, multifamily homes and remodeling projects are now close to normal levels in the market. This year alone, multifamily homes are predicted to climb 35 percent nationwide. Remodeling projects are predicted to increase by 2.2 percent this year. The report showed single-family home activity at 47 percent of normal during the first quarter this year. Crowe predicts it will be a 71 percent of normal by the end of 2014. The report predicts an increased number of people buying a home compared to last year.

The Spring Tour of Homes, Condominiums & Land has celebrated the beginning of new home construction season for more than 20 years. Whether you are searching for a roomy four  bedroom home, or a quaint condominium, your quest should begin at the Spring Tour of Homes, Condominiums & Land. “The diversity of the projects makes the Spring Tour an outlet that everyone can enjoy,” said MBA Executive Director Richard Hodges. “In addition, now is a terrific time to build a home. Whether you are a first time homeowner or looking to move up to a larger home, it’s a GREAT time to build.”

 The 2010 Tour features 48 projects in a wide variety of communities, built or developed by 30 different companies. The Tour will highlight 12 different condominiums, 34 different single family homes, and 2 communities. Projects are scattered throughout Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha Counties.

 If you are on the hunt for the excitement that can only come from building a new home or enjoying the amenities of condominium living, don’t miss the 2010 Spring Tour of Homes, Condominiums & Land. This free Tour runs from April 17th through May 2nd with models open from noon to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

 For more information on locations, floorplans, and descriptions of the projects in the 2010 Spring Tour of Homes, Condominiums & Land, browse the official Spring Tour website at www.mbaonline.org

Simply, in our business, it doesn’t work that way. For us, it’s an impossible question to answer without a lot more information and detail, and one that can only be derived once the house is finished and all costs have been accounted for. Before that, it’s akin to asking, “How much does a vacation cost?” without first knowing where and for how long you plan to go, and by what mode of transportation, among other considerations.
The fact is, the details (and therefore cost) of every house — even those built on speculation by large-volume builders — is different, and the cost of your house is entirely up to you, not your builder. Only you know how much you can afford and what you want in your new home. At Tim O’Brien Homes it is our job to apply our expertise and experience to finely detail your wants and needs and then build a home that meets (or ideally exceeds) those expectations while remaining within your budget.

That’s why it is so important to determine and then share your budget with us from the first moment you select us to build your home. Budget information should precede any talk of contracts or actual construction. Using the vacation analogy, we are like a travel agent working with you to plan a trip.

Still, the square-foot cost question persists. So, it might be helpful to understand what goes into or affects the cost (or ultimate price) of a new home to gain a better perspective on the question.
For instance, the costs of similarly sized homes can vary considerably due to their location (and even size and shape of the lot within the same neighborhood), the outline of the building, the type of and complexity of the foundation and roof, and many other construction and design characteristics that are not directly related to the square footage of the house.
In addition, costs including development impact fees and permits, or state and municipality mandated code requirements, can add from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars to the ultimate cost of a new home, regardless of size. Labor and material costs also can vary substantially based upon the time of year, availability and demand of building materials and workers, weather conditions, and the complexity of the project.

The list of variables goes on, and we’re happy to discuss them with you and explain how they might impact the cost of your new home. But, in our view, it’s short-sighted to ask us up-front what our homes cost per square foot, and certainly to base one of the most important decisions of your life on that metric alone.

 There is a ton of information about how to find a builder for your new home.   Unfortunately, most of what you read or hear from non-builder “experts” reduces the decision to numbers, specifically the cost estimates that a few builders provide in a competitive bidding process. To us, basing such an important decision and arguably one of the largest investments of your life on mere numbers is at least incomplete and at worst, a potential nightmare scenario. Frankly, we’d rather not be your builder if your evaluation of our capabilities rests entirely on how much we think it will cost to build your new home.

Instead, we encourage and have found success (read: satisfied clients) by suggesting a different tact. It’s a comprehensive approach that admittedly takes a little more time than just collecting bids, but one that can result in truly finding the right builder for your unique situation and budget.

It starts with identifying what’s “right” for you, a unique definition that requires a solid vision for your project and some personal introspection. For instance, if you are planning to build a large custom home, you should look at builders in your area that specialize in and have a track record of building those types of homes.

Narrow that list by investigating each builder’s website, calling their references, the Better Business Bureau, or your local building association chapter.

Based on your current personal and professional relationships, consider the types of personalities you like and respond to best. You’ll probably spend more time with your builder over the next several months than almost anyone else.

You won’t know if you’re ‘compatible’ until you meet face-to-face. If you’re confident in one builder, either from your research or a strong referral, you may not feel the need to meet with any other candidates. But if you are truly starting your search from scratch, without a referral from a trusted source, we suggest you develop a short list of 3-4 builders and invite them to make a presentation in your home or their office — as much to glean their methods as to gauge compatibility.

At those meetings, be open and honest about your project. If you have a set of architectural plans, show them. Request that each candidate bring photos of projects that are similar to yours in style and size. Inquire about how they define “quality” construction and how comfortable they are about green building … if that’s something you care about.

Finally, ask the builder (or builders) about their financial stability and, in turn, share your project budget and financial plan. There’s no sense in trying to forge a good working relationship if you demand a builder’s financial status but won’t be forthcoming about what you can afford and how you’ll pay for your new home.

Once you find a builder that’s earned your confidence in their skills, financial stability, understanding of your project, and (most important) their ability to communicate with you, it’s time to refine and sign a contract and get your builder involved in the project as soon as possible. Having a builder on the team early helps ensure that everyone is moving in the same direction and toward the same goal of realizing the home you envision.

The term “low-e” refers to a coating or thin, nearly invisible film on window glass.

In the summer, the result is a cooler glass surface and a reduction in the transfer of heat into the living space and in the winter the window allows radiant heat to enter the room. This makes the home more comfortable and more energy efficient.

Low-e glass is now standard on most windows or an easy upgrade on others.

Regardless of a home’s size or style, all construction follows a consistent pattern and pace. Excavation and foundation work will be followed by the framing phase, which will be followed by rough mechanical, electrical and plumbing work. As soon as those stages are complete, insulation will be installed. These steps follow each other quickly and are easy to see. The progress is exciting!

But when our crews and subcontractors begin to focus on the interior finishes of a new home, the pace seems to slow down and daily progress is more difficult to follow. To the homeowner, it might seem that we are losing focus or paying less attention to the project. In fact, the opposite is true. The apparent pace of work has slowed because finishing work is much more detailed than the previous stages. We must be more focused and pay more attention to the finishing details.

For example, cutting, building, and fastening the pieces of a complex crown molding profile along the ceiling-wall joint of an upscale kitchen requires several hours of painstaking work by a skilled finish carpenter. Likewise, finishing newly built walls to a smooth, uniform surface is a process that takes multiple cycles of application, drying, sanding, and cleaning to accomplish properly.

There also are more products to install. The number of cabinets, faucets, light fixtures, door handles, and outlet and switch covers in a modern new house continues to increase as homes become larger and more luxurious. To get some sense of that task, count the number of outlets and switch covers in your kitchen and family room alone (or in the whole house, if you’re more ambitious), each of which must be installed by hand before you can move in.

Finally, finish work signals the last stage of the building process. Both we and our homeowners are anxious to finish the job after several weeks of anticipation and hard work, not counting the time spent planning before construction began. It is hard for homeowners to remain patient when the work appears to be moving slowly.

By the very nature of its exacting, hand-applied work, the finishing phase of homebuilding is necessarily slow. That does not mean that the work is being neglected! During this final part of your home construction, remember that we remain focused on the highest quality installation and application of your home’s interior finishes.

If you have already engaged an architect to draw the plans for your house, by all means ask that person to suggest possible candidates and to join you in interviewing builders; most know and have worked with local builders in the past who might be a good match. However, it’s often best to find a builder first, essentially to work with a design professional to help ensure that your budget is considered through the design process. It’s heartbreaking (and leaves a bad taste) to invest time, effort, and money into architectural drawings that you find out later — from your builder — are too expensive to build. You may find it is better to have the whole team together from the start.  At Tim O’Brien Homes, our architects can change any of our floor plans to meet your unique needs.  Come talk to us and see what we can build for you!

There is a ton of information about how to find a builder for your new home. Unfortunately, most of what you read or hear from non-builder “experts” reduces the decision to numbers, specifically the cost estimates that a few builders provide in a competitive bidding process. To us, basing such an important decision and arguably one of the largest investments of your life on mere numbers is at least incomplete and at worst, a potential nightmare scenario. Frankly, we’d rather not be your builder if your evaluation of our capabilities rests entirely on how much we think it will cost to build your new home.

Instead, we encourage and have found success by suggesting a different tact. It’s a comprehensive approach that admittedly takes a little more time than just collecting bids, but one that can result in truly finding the right builder for your unique situation and budget.

It starts with identifying what’s “right” for you, a unique definition that requires a solid vision for your project and some personal introspection. For instance, if you are planning to build a large custom home, you should look at builders in your area that specialize in and have a track record of building those types of homes.  Narrow that list by investigating each builder’s website, calling their references, the Better Business Bureau, or your local building association chapter.  Based on your current personal and professional relationships, consider the types of personalities you like and respond to best. You’ll probably spend more time with your builder over the next several months than almost anyone else.

You won’t know if you’re ‘compatible’ until you meet face-to-face. If you’re confident in one builder, either from your research or a strong referral, you may not feel the need to meet with any other candidates. But if you are truly starting your search from scratch, without a referral from a trusted source, we suggest you develop a short list of 3-4 builders and invite them to make a presentation in your home or their office — as much to glean their methods as to gauge compatibility.

At those meetings, be open and honest about your project. If you have a set of architectural plans, show them. Request that each candidate bring photos of projects that are similar to yours in style and size. Inquire about how they define “quality” construction and how comfortable they are with the principles of green building .. if that’s something you care about.

Finally, ask the builder (or builders) about their financial stability and, in turn, share your project budget and financial plan. There’s no sense in trying to forge a good working relationship if you demand a builder’s financial status but won’t be forthcoming about what you can afford and how you’ll pay for your new home.

Once you find a builder that’s earned your confidence in their skills, financial stability, understanding of your project, and (most important) their ability to communicate with you, it’s time to refine and sign a contract and get your builder involved in the project as soon as possible. Having a builder on the team early helps ensure that everyone is moving in the same direction and toward the same goal of realizing the home you envision.

We hope to be on your list and we look forward to being the ‘right’ builder for you!

Green building, sustainability and high-performance homes are now part of the vocabulary of new home construction. We welcome the attention brought to these important issues. As professional builders, however, we take the subject with a grain of salt. Green building is a far more complex topic than that portrayed in the media. News spots or magazine articles typically focus on specific areas like insulated windows, high-efficiency furnaces, roof-mounted solar panels, or recycled-content flooring.

Certainly, those products provide measurable benefits in terms of energy savings and improved use of natural resources, but genuine green building is much more complex. A green builder uses a systematic approach to design, construction, and on-going operational durability in which the sum of the benefits are far greater than the individual components. A green builder also knows how to personalize the green building approach to each homebuyer’s needs and budget, carefully balancing the value that the client places on the benefits of green building as opposed to other choices available for new home construction.

It is true that all homes (and all buildings) leave an environmental “footprint.” The materials we builders use in new construction use natural resources, such as trees and metal ores, even oil. The important goals of green building are to reduce the amount of natural resources required to build a house, and then to lessen the amount of energy used by the house. Energy efficiency over the life of the house further reduces the natural resources needed to produce electricity and natural gas.

To achieve those goals, we look for building materials, products, and systems that make the most (or best) use of every resource harvested while also performing better than traditional products. For example, an engineered beam uses smaller, fast-growing trees. Twice as much of each log can be used to make an engineered beam as compared with a comparably sized “glue-lam” beam created in a sawmill.  An engineered beam can also span longer, open spaces and resist warp better. A house that is free of even the smallest gaps does not waste energy.

Various green building certification programs are now available to help builders create more sustainable and resource-efficient homes. As we review them, however, we often find that the building practices we already have in place meet or exceed those standards. That’s good news for our homebuyers and owners because it means we’re already providing a high-performance home — i.e., a home with many green features — without adding to the cost or price. Of course, a client may choose to add additional features as budget, needs, and passion for the environment dictate.

With a systematic approach to green or sustainable building, we can build a new home that not only leaves as small an environmental footprint as possible, but also delivers convenience, comfort, safety, and a high level of value.